Wednesday, June 1, 2011

"Syrian opposition members have rejected an amnesty offer by President Bashar al Assad as a token concession in order to contain a crisis that has called the legitimacy of the current leadership into question.

The deal and the leadership has been "rejected and revoked", Ammar Abdulhamid, a Syrian pro-democracy activist, said.

Exiled opposition leaders and members met on Wednesday to close ranks and forge a plan for a "new, democratic Syria", in a gathering of activists 10 weeks since an uprising against Baathist rule began.

During the conference, members of the opposition will form a committee in order to liaise with the international community.

The conference, hosted in the Turkish coastal city of Antalya, brings together a broad spectrum of opposition figures driven abroad over the last three decades; from Muslim politicians crushed in the 1980s to Christians escaping repression....."